4 Into his own banqueting-hall the king has brought me, shewn me the blazon of his love. 5 Cushioned on flowers, apples heaped high about me, and love-sick all the while! 6 His left hand pillows my head; his right hand, even now, ready to embrace me.

8 The voice I love! See where he comes, how he speeds over the mountains, how he spurns the hills![3] 9 Gazelle nor fawn was ever so fleet of foot as my heart’s love. And now he is standing on the other side of this very wall; now he is looking in through each window in turn, peering through every chink. 10 I can hear my true love calling to me: Rise up, rise up quickly, dear heart, so gentle, so beautiful, rise up and come with me. 11 Winter is over now, the rain has passed by. 12 At home, the flowers have begun to blossom; pruning-time has come; we can hear the turtle-dove cooing already, there at home. 13 There is green fruit on the fig-trees; the vines in flower are all fragrance. Rouse thee, and come, so beautiful, so well beloved, 14 still hiding thyself as a dove hides in cleft rock or crannied wall. Shew me but thy face, let me but hear thy voice, that voice sweet as thy face is fair.

16 All mine, my true love, and I all his; see where he goes out to pasture among the lilies, 17 till the day grows cool, and the shadows long. Come back, my heart’s love, swift as gazelle or fawn out on the hills of Bether.

[1] vv. 1-6: The village girl appears to be speaking, except in verse 2, which may be attributed to Solomon. ‘He’ is the country lover in verse 3, Solomon in verse 6.

[2] The end of this verse is sometimes taken literally in the Hebrew text, as meaning ‘do not arouse or excite (the sentiment of) love (in me) until it pleases to awake of its own accord’. But the Latin rendering, which interprets ‘love’ as ‘the loved one’ seems far simpler. If it is right, Solomon is the speaker; the village girl has fallen asleep over the banquet.

[3] v. 8 of this chapter - v. 4 of the next chapter. Since this passage begins and ends with a warning that the sleeper must not be awoken, the pictures recorded in it are evidently those of a dream. In verse 9, the dreamer seems to echo the half-heard utterance of verse 7.

[4] This is usually thought to be the text of some country song; the words ‘How was it they sang?’ have been inserted above, so as to prepare the reader for this.